[fund] persecution of opposition

Iranian prisoner of conscience, Shiva Nazar Ahari, spent her 26th birthday, on Thursday 10 June, in Evin Prison. Staff at the head office of Amnesty International in London wanted to wish her 'happy birthday' and call for her release. So we gathered, with cakes, to remembeer Shiva. This is our small gift to her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiRKTG6Tu7Q

Armed only with the Camera, Iranian feminist and filmmaker, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, has documented the lives of women enmeshed in the country’s political issues such as the legitimacy of Almadinejad’s regime, women and the family law and stoning on grounds of adultery. She was once more arrested last 20 December 2009 while on her way to the funeral of Ayatollah Montazeri.

This weekend one year will have gone by since the Iranian people took to the streets in droves to protest at the fraudulent elections that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency. These peaceful demonstrations were met with extreme violence carried out by the Iranian regime. Since that day, the people have not backed down and continue to fight peacefully for basic human rights. Meanwhile, the government continues its crackdown on any opposition or dissent with ever increasing brutality.

Iran is jamming satellite broadcasts in attempts to stop people seeing a new film telling the story of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who was shot dead during the mass protests that followed last summer's disputed presidential election. Viewers in Tehran complained of jamming and power cuts on Wednesday and yesterday when the Voice of America Persian TV network broadcast the documentary For Neda, featuring the first film interviews with the family of the 27-year-old.

The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) International Solidarity Network and the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women (SKSW) are deeply concerned by the sentencing meted out to our colleague and friend, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, in May by the Iranian Revolutionary Court for exercising her constitutional right to peaceful assembly. Please see attached our sample letter .

Confirmed reports from Evin Prison suggest that a number of female political prisoners have been held illegally for months, and face unsubstantiated charges which can lead to heavy verdicts. According to the Kalame website, one such prisoner is Maryam Akbari-Monfared, who was arrested on December 31, 2009, following the Ashura events, and is currently held in Evin.

It didn't take much for Iranian courts to sentence 10 people to death over the country's post-election turmoil. For one prisoner, the main evidence was that he allegedly sent videos of protests abroad. The government accuses the 10 of leading unrest after the disputed presidential election, but none of them seem to have played any significant role in the protest movement. What most of the prisoners have in common is tenuous past links to a much-disliked exile movement, the Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization.

The trial of human rights activist Shiva Nazar-Ahari will begin in Tehran on May 23rd 2010. This activist who has been behind bars for 11 months, continues to be held in Evin’s solitary confinement Ward 209 with another cellmate. Rooz spoke with Shiva’s mother, Shahrzad Kariman, about her daughter’s situation and living conditions in prison. She said her daughter seemed to have excellent morale and talked about how absolutely proud she was of her.